Anonymous Student Work

My name is Patty Lynch and I was born in Oak Park, Illinois but raised in Cleveland, Ohio for the later part of my life. Being the youngest of five children, my home was always an incredibly busy place. I began cooking when I was 13. My dad lost his job when I was younger, and at that time my mom went to work, leaving me to make dinner. As a child growing up, I would tell everyone I wanted to be a nurse or teacher, but once I started cooking, I knew I would do something in the restaurant and hospitality field. I aspire to own a bed and breakfast someday. My first jobs were owning and operating a print shop, working for Nike, and I was a paralegal for seven years. I started Simply Delicious in 2001 as a personal chef where I would buy groceries and take them to a client’s home. I would prepare their meals right there in their own kitchen.

As far as a specialty dish, I love everything I make but my favorite is appetizers; tiny bites of food bursting with flavor. When displayed on a buffet, there is so much color and texture and I love that. I think a lot of chefs that are formally trained develop egos and lose the fact that the food is about the client, about making their event the best day of their life. I think that a very important quality in a good chef is realizing that making a good meal or dish is not about the glory, but about the client. That was something I learned from being self-taught along with my own rule: never skimp on ingredients. Always use the best and freshest product available.

I think that someone who is interested in a food career should go for it. Even if the career does not pan out, it is a great skill to learn. For me it is a creative outlet that I am passionate about. I have over 1000 cookbooks and love to talk about food 24 hours a day.

There was one event in my years of catering that really made an impact on how I look at each event, and how thankful I am when each one goes as smoothly as hoped for.

It was one of my first catering events when I was just starting out with Simply Delicious, the summer of 2004. The mother of the bride wanted everything perfect down to the butterfly release when the bride and groom were presented; it was really going to be a beautiful ceremony. My staff and I arrived at the house where the reception is being held and assembled all of our favorite trade mark foods, along with some the wedding party had requested. Among these were of course our brown sugar smokies wrapped in bacon, sausage stars, shrimp cocktail, and our infamous array of mini desserts. Unfortunately, the groom’s parents have brought their Jack Russell Terrier with them to the reception. At some point when my whole staff was too busy working on other dishes, the dog had gotten on the dining room table and had eaten part of the wedding cake. Not just one piece, but he had managed to devour 3 layers of our decadent 5 layer red velvet cake and a good portion of the white butter cream frosting. No one had told the bride’s mother, we were all too scared and didn’t want to disappoint. My team didn’t waste any time assembling the cake layers and wrapped fresh roses around the cake so people couldn’t tell. When the aunt of the bride offered my staff and me cake, we said thanks but no thanks. That event was without a doubt one of my favorite catering memories, especially now that it’s over and I can laugh about it. I will never forget it. What makes it so funny is that the mother had been so picky about so many of the details of the wedding, and no one ever told her that the dog had eaten half the cake.

ROUGH DRAFT:

Memoir

My name is Patty Lynch and I was born in Oak Park, Illinois but raised in Cleveland, Ohio for the later part of my life. Being the youngest of five children, my home was always an incredibly busy place. I began cooking when I was 13. My dad lost his job so at that time my mom went to work leaving me to make dinner. As a child growing up, I would tell everyone I wanted to be a nurse or teacher. But once I started cooking, I knew I would do something in the restaurant and hospitality field. I aspire to own a bed and breakfast someday. My first jobs were owning and operating a print shop, working for Nike, and I was a paralegal for seven years. I started Simply Delicious in 2001 as a personal chef where I would buy groceries and take them to a client’s home. I would prepare their meals right there in their own kitchen.

As far as a specialty dish, I love everything I make but my favorite is appetizers; tiny bites of food bursting with flavor. When displayed on a buffet, there is so much color and texture and I love that. I think a lot of chefs that are formally trained develop egos and lose the fact that the food is about the client, about making their event the best day of their life. I think that a very important quality in a good chef is realizing that making a good meal or dish is not about the glory, but about the client. That was something I learned from being self-taught along with my own rule: never skimp on ingredients. Always use the best and freshest product available.

I think that someone who is interested in a food career should go for it. Even if the career does not pan out, it is a great skill to learn. For me it is a creative outlet that I am passionate about. I have over 1000 cookbooks and love to talk about food 24 hours a day.

There was one event in my years of catering that really made an impact on how I look at each event, and how thankful I am when each one goes as smoothly as hoped for.

It was one of my first catering events when I was just starting out with Simply Delicious. The mother of the bride wanted everything perfect down to the butterfly release when the bride and groom were presented; it really was going to be a beautiful ceremony. My staff and I arrive at the house where the reception is being held. Unfortunately, the groom’s parents have brought their Jack Russell Terrier with them to the reception. At some point when my whole staff was too busy working on other dishes, the dog had gotten on the dining room table and had eaten part of the wedding cake. Not just one piece, but he had managed to devour 3 of the 5 layers. No one had told the bride’s mother, we were all too scared and didn’t want to disappoint. My team didn’t waste any time assembling the cake layers and wrapped fresh roses around the cake so people couldn’t tell. When the aunt offered my staff and me all cake, we said thanks but no thanks. That event was without a doubt one of my favorite catering memories, especially now that it’s over and I can laugh about it. I will never forget it. What makes it so funny is that the mother had been so picky about so many of the details of the wedding, and no one ever told her that the dog had eaten half the cake.

This was a really good and entertaining story! The dog part made me laugh. The only thing I would add would be to descibe the food in a little more detail, since that is what she loved to do. Besides that, it was a great story! Fun to read. 🙂

On February 23, 2009 at 7:26 pm Jack Bauer said:

This is good, i love food stories! but you didn’t capture the time period this took place, which was the whole purpose of this memior. This could have been anytime period in the 20th century, or it could even be present, who knows?

On February 23, 2009 at 7:29 pm King Reptar said:

this was a really good story, it was definatley a good read. what i would recommend is adding more detail to the food part, since that is what she liked to do.

On February 23, 2009 at 7:32 pm Megatron said:

this was a really good story. I think it might be improved by describing some of the people or settings but otherwise i think this was great!

On February 23, 2009 at 7:38 pm Patrick Star said:

Really entertaining! I especially like how you portrayed her feelings about the beauty of food and such in the second paragraph. I felt like the transition to the dog story was a little abrupt, but I think it actually works in this story.

On February 23, 2009 at 7:41 pm music girl said:

I really liked this story and I agreed with the chef and client stuff because i love to cook. I also agree with the aboved comments about having more description about the food,but other than that i liked it.

On March 18, 2009 at 5:43 pm mrsfollis2 said:

This was a very fun story and I enjoy your overall writing style! I’m going to agree with your classmates and encourage you to pull out some additional details so we have a clearer picture of the setting and events! Also, watch tense changes- you must pick one: either it’s happening now, or it happened- you cannot go back and forth.

Welcome!

Click on the pen names of your "anonymous" classmates and write your response.
******************************************
Each response should include BOTH positive AND negative feedback to help the writer to improve for the final draft.